quote:Do rabbits make up most of your prey? Do you train them to catch specific prey?

Yeah, I mostly hunt rabbits. In AL, probably more people focus on squirrels because they're so easy to find. But, for whatever reason, I seem to have access to more places with rabbits than squirrels.

You don't really "train" them for any specific game. Each species of raptor just naturally takes certain game. A red tail like mine will go after just about anything furry between the size of a mouse and a large rabbit.

quote:Does the bird eat the prey or does he just sit on it till you get there? Rabbit or squirrel is damn good eats.

He'll start eating it once it's dead, or almost dead. I generally trade him off to a piece of pre cut meat and put the rabbit/squirrel in the bag. Most of the time I just cut it up and put it in the freezer to feed back to him, but we do eat the rabbits sometimes.

quote:what's the estimate of time to do something like this? starting off the first week, more hours put in than later on?

The first week, the more time you spend with the hawk, the better. I work, so I probably spend 3-4 hours every night that first week taming the hawk and getting him to eat. Week two, is similar, but more working on flying. After he's "trained" it's the same thing - the more time you fly, the better.

With a redtail, you can get away with only flying maybe 3 days a week, an hour each time, but it's not ideal. I hunt 4-6 days a week, weather permitting.

There are ups and downs. Today was a dud, for example.

quote:ur not exactly Oscar calibre yet for editing/sound/film, but we'll cut you some slack!

It's taking some practice. Having the camera mounted to my head means every time I look at something, the view gets jerked around. I'm usually more focused on hunting than filming. And I knew most people wouldn't like my music selection.